Hermione Granger and the Pirates of World A
by pony-girl298
Summary: The Golden Trio are searching for Horcruxes. They accidentally apparate to an alternate universe! It's a world with pirates, laser guns and airships. How did they get here? And will they survive long enough to figure out a way home?
1. Another World

A/N: So with this posting, I now officially have two stories on the go at the same time. Biting off more than I can chew? Probably. What can I say? The idea was born and then chewed on the inside of my brain until I gave in and wrote it down.

Hermione, Ron and Harry and all things from the Harry Potter universe belong to J.K. Rowling. Everything in "World A" is mine.

Hermione pointed her wand at the tent and muttered the incantation. The tent shrunk down until it was the size of a teacup and she put it in her bag.

"You do that so easily," Ron said. He hazarded a half smile at her. She glared back at him. She still hadn't forgiven him for leaving them, even if he did save Harry's life and destroy a Horcrux. And even if she loved him, which she didn't, she couldn't forgive him for abandoning Harry and her.

They'd been traveling for weeks, never staying in one place more than a few days. Ron had left them just before Christmas and Hermione and Harry had traveled for weeks without him. Then last night, Harry walks back to the campsite with Ron in tow as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Harry forgave him so easily, Hermione, not so much.

She walked past Ron without looking at him. It was hard, staying angry at him. She wanted to throw both arms around his neck and hold him tight, to tell him she's so happy that he's back and safe. But she couldn't. Her pride wouldn't let her.

"Ready to go," she told Harry. Harry glanced between Hermione and Ron over her shoulder. She suppressed a sigh, wondering what ridiculous hand gestures Ron was making at Harry behind her back. Hermione whipped her head around and Ron dropped his hands so fast the air swished. He smiled sheepishly, like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Hermione's knees wobbled a little under his gaze. She turned away quickly and made a show of stomping off.

Harry joined her and Ron stood on Harry's other side. They all joined hands and apparated away.

Hermione felt like she was being pulled apart and not the way she normally did when she was apparating. This was stronger and it hurt so much more. She opened her mouth to scream but the sound was snatched away.

Then, it stopped. The ground jarred her legs and she fell, throwing her hands out just in time to stop her head from hitting the dirt. Her head spun, she felt like throwing up. She felt like someone had played tug-of-war with her arms and legs and then tried to stuff her in a tiny box. Hermione looked up. Harry and Ron lay in heaps on the ground near her.

Ron moaned and clutched his head. Harry had managed to sit up and was rolling his shoulders with a pained expression on his face.

"What happened?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," said Harry. Hermione looked around with wide eyes. The forest was alive and green. Sunlight filtered through the thick canopy, making the ground of the clearing look like a contorted checkerboard. Animals whose sounds Hermione didn't recognize were chirping and shrieking at one another. Gone was the blanket of snow that one would expect from England in January. In fact, the temperature felt like it was April or May.

"Are we still in England?" Ron asked.

"I don't think so," answered Hermione. "I've missed before when Apparating but usually just by a few hundred metres. I've never missed by a whole country."

Harry was the first to get up. "Come on," he said. "We'd better figure out where we are." Ron sprung to his feet and offered his hand to Hermione. She took it out of instinct, remembering too late that she was supposed to be angry at him. As soon as she was standing she pulled her hand back. She let a curtain of hair fall over her face, trying desperately to hide the blush spreading over her cheeks.

"Soooooo," Harry drew out the syllable. He sounded as awkward as Hermione felt. "Let's pick a direction and start walking."

Then, the underbrush rustled. All three of them jumped. Hermione looked around madly, her mind racing. Who was it? Snatchers? Death Eaters? Or worse? How could they have found the three of them? _They_ didn't even know where they were.

Hermione felt something bump into her back and she jumped, barely stifling a yelp. It was just Ron and Harry. They'd unconsciously moved so their backs were to each other, forming a triangle. Clearly, their fighting instincts from the incident in the Department of Mysteries were still intact. She noticed that she was holding her wand and didn't remember pulling it out. Another instinct.

Suddenly, people burst from the bushes around them: two, three, four of them.

"_Stupefy_!"

"_Expelliarmus_!"

"_Petrificus Totalus_!"

Something hot shot past Hermione's ear. She gasped and jumped back. Something hard connected with her right wrist. Pain shot through her hand making her drop her wand. And now she was being hit. She tried to fight back but she didn't have her wand. She was hit in the shoulder and once in the back of the leg. She fell to her knees, hard. A hand closed around her wrist and jerked her forward. Then she froze. She recognized the object being pressed against her neck by a fierce looking man. It was a pistol.

Under normal circumstances, Hermione wouldn't have been scared. But she didn't have her wand and she was in a strange place and the man holding the gun looked so ferocious. Hermione wanted to scream. She stared fixedly at the weapon. She had never seen a gun up close before.

A fifth man appeared from the shadows, breaking the tableau. He was at least six and a half feet tall, bald, with skin a shade or two darker than Dean Thomas's. The attackers all turned to him as he approached. Hermione was sure he was in charge. He had that air about him.

Hermione tore her eyes away from the gun and glanced at her friends. Harry and Ron were in similar situations. A young woman had Harry on his knees facing away from her. She held a gun to the back of his head. Two men were sitting on Ron to hold him down as he struggled. The gun trained on Harry had stopped him from struggling but Ron didn't know to be afraid of it. So, he thrashed around as the two men tried desperately to keep him down.

"Just stun him," the tall black man told them. The two holding Ron looked at each other and then at him.

"Ha! Right. Good idea," one of them said. He hit a button on the back of the gun, pointed it at Ron and fired. Hermione screamed. But instead of a bullet, a beam of light shot from the end and hit Ron in the arm. He slumped down.

"Calm down, Girlie," said the man holding her. "Ain't you ever seen a stun ray before?"

"N-no," stammered Hermione.

The man scoffed. "What rock you been livin' under?" he drawled. He sounded American and he had a twang to his voice. "Well then I'll tell ya. He's just asleep. He'll wake up in an hour or two."

Hermione trembled. She sank down so she was sitting on her ankles. Despite herself she started to cry. This was too much. A minute ago they'd been on their way to a new camping sight. Now they were God-knows and where being held at gun point. Tears dripped off her chin and she gasped for breath.

"Hey, no. C'mon Girlie, don't cry," the man holding her begged. "I ain't gonna shoot ya. Look." He put the gun into a holster hanging from his belt.

"We know she's no officer," laughed the girl holding Harry. The others chuckled too.

Hermione took a deep breath and managed to stop her tears. Officer? What were they talking about?

The two holding Ron had gotten up, now that he was indisposed, and were going through their things. One of them picked up Hermione's bag and gasped at the weight.

"Whoa, what you got in here?" he asked Hermione. He opened it and looked in. His eyes widened.

"Look at this, Barbossa," he said. The big black man walked over and looked into Hermione's bag.

"What world are you from?" he asked.

Hermione and Harry exchanged a confused look. Barbossa saw it.

"Not this one, obviously," said the girl. She let go of Harry and he sank down to sit on his ankles like Hermione. They were in another world?

"Where are you from?" the girl asked more kindly.

"England," answered Harry.

The girl looked at Barbossa. "England. Which world is that?"

"C or D," the man holding the bag cut in. "Doc Philips will know. Or the Cap'n."

"Yeah, Cap'n will know," Jamie said. "And Cap'n will know what to do with 'em, eh Barbossa?"

Barbossa nodded curtly.

And so, they picked up the unconscious Ron and led Harry and Hermione through the forest.


	2. Crew and Captain

Twenty minutes later, the group emerged onto a beach. Hermione gasped. It wasn't the beautiful white sand that you usually only find at resorts or the crystal blue ocean that stretched out as far as the eye could see. No, what made Hermione gasp was the ship careened on the beach. At least the body of it was a ship. Where the sails should have been there was a dirigible body. Hermione couldn't stop staring. She felt like she'd been sucked into a _Star Wars_ movie, except there was nothing like this in _Star Wars_. Hermione could see two people hanging around it.

Jamie, who was still with her, noticed Hermione's face. "Impressive, ain't she? She's called _Mazu's Glory_."

Hermione managed to recover her voice. "Is that a space ship?" she asked.

"Nah, we don't have that kind of tech yet. She's an airship: Kitty Hawk class with an upgraded Takeshi 46 engine. Garcia ditched the original Pegger 14."

"Pegger 14 is crap!" called out one of the men carrying Ron. Hermione assumed he was Garcia. "It's the same engine as the Pegger 10. They just changed the outside covers and hoped nobody would notice. Didn't even replace those awful PSR coils. They were smart and used PSFs in the Takeshi, among other things. Added 2000 km to its lifespan for less than 10 Peso a-piece. Damn, cheap Peggers."

Hermione had no idea what he had just said but she managed an: "It's huge."

Jamie laughed. "Not really. She's about average for a Kitty Hawk: 30 metres. But she's light and fast so if we can't beat 'em, we can always outrun 'em!"

Ron started to stir so Garcia and the other man put him down in some grass on the edge of the beach.

"I thought you said he'd be unconscious for an hour," said Harry.

Jamie shrugged. "He's a big guy. Guess his system absorbed it faster."

Ron groaned. He struggled to sit up.

"Easy there, fella," Garcia put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from sitting all the way up. "Take it slow, you went down pretty hard back there. You'll feel weak and nauseous for a while but just try not to−"

Ron suddenly leaned sideways and vomited all over the grass.

"Ron!" Hermione was by his side (the side without the vomit) before she realized that she'd moved.

Ron stayed leaned to the side for a moment before sitting up.

"Fine," he muttered. "I'm fine."

Barbossa walked over. Hermione realized with a start that he'd slipped away without her noticing. She always prided herself on her powers of observation, so it threw her for a loop.

"If you two are done," he said. "Cap'n will see you now."

The crew members jumped to attention at the mention of the Captain. Hermione suppressed a gulp. If mention of him had them all jumping, what was he like in person? Hermione hoped that he'd take pity on them. An ally in this world would be nice.

With Garcia and Jamie's help, Ron stood and they group made their way to the airship.

After a few steps Harry stopped.

"What?" the girl asked him.

He pointed to the ship. The crew and Hermione looked. She saw nothing that she hadn't seen before.

Harry stammered. "Are-are you pirates?"

Hermione whipped her head around to stare at the ship again. Sure enough, the flag blowing in the breeze from the top-most point of the ship was black with a white skeleton on it.

"Uh, yeah, I guess we are," the girl said with a dismissive shrug.

Hermione's mind raced. Pirates? They'd made friends with pirates? Maybe it wasn't too late to escape. But Ron... he was in no condition for a quickie apparition. And they were in unfamiliar territory. With no set destination in mind they'd all get splinched. Hermione had no idea if they could apparate back to their own universe and she didn't want to try and risk killing them all. Better just to stay where they were. Besides, these pirates seemed nice enough. And if they were planning to kill the three of them they'd have done it already, right?

Hermione had been walking with the group while she thought this and they were now at the foot of a rope ladder leading to the deck of the ship. _Mazu's Glory_ was even bigger up close. Her hull curved out towards them, making it feel even bigger and more imposing.

Jamie gestured to the ladder and bowed slightly at Hermione. "Here, let me help you up."

The girl crew member elbowed him aside. "That's what she said," she teased and climbed up the ladder like a monkey. The rest of the crew laughed.

"Hey!" he protested but Hermione could tell he knew it was a joke. She envied the relationship that they had. If she said that to either of the boys, they'd take it personally and be mad at her for a week.

"Well?" Barbossa's voice brought Hermione back to reality. She grabbed the ladder and climbed. The rest of the group followed suit as well as the man and woman who had been with the ship all along. Hermione stared at them, wondering which one was the captain.

The man was tall and gangly. He had brown hair that was receding giving him a large forehead. Coupled with the big eyes, he looked a bit like a bug. He kept wringing his hands and looking from person to person. Hermione wondered how much Barbossa had told him and why he seemed so nervous. He wasn't the one who had fallen through to an alternate universe.

The woman was black and looked to be in her late-thirties. Her hair was in a ponytail but Hermione guessed that it would reach her shoulders when out. Her eyes were almond shaped giving them an almost Chinese look. Hermione thought that of the two of them, she was the captain. She had that look of authority about her.

"What do we got?" an American woman's voice asked from behind Hermione. The crew of the _Mazu's Glory _all turned and gave the speaker their full attention. Even Ron and Harry seemed fixated. Hermione turned.

A woman had stepped up to the railing of the deck above them. She was dressed more like a cowboy than a pirate to Hermione's mind. She wore big black boots and beige tights that looked like they were meant for horseback riding. On top she wore a dark blue double-breasted jacket that had been part of a military uniform in its past life. It had shiny gold buttons down the front that weren't done up. Slung low on her hips was a belt with a gun holster on one side and a knife sheath on the other. Both had weapons in them.

If the black woman looked like authority, this woman radiated it. She was definitely the captain.

"Interloppers, Cap'n," Barbossa answered

"You're the Captain?" gasped Ron.

"Cap'n Jack Silver, at your sevice." She smiled at their shocked faces.

"You're, um..." Harry began.

"Not what you were expecting?" she prompted. "Thought I'd be a man, did you?"

"Well yes."

"Most people do. And I like them to think that, hence Jack and not Jacqueline." She smirked at them and came to stand in front of the three students.

"So, which world are you kids from?"

"World?" Ron asked. He'd been unconscious for the "multiple alternate universes" part of the conversation.

"Yeah," continued the Captain. "You're not the first inter-world travellers to come here. So far we've identified Worlds B through to H, with our own being A. Our scientists think that our world is a 'basin' or something like that. Basically, other worlds bump into ours and people and stuff fall in through the cracks. Officially, we're supposed to report and inter-world activity to the authorities and hand over whatever, or whoever, came through. But..."

The Captain's searching look eyed them up and down. "I'd say we can get a fair penny for them in Renata, eh Matteo?"

The First Mate nodded solemnly, while giving the three teenagers the same searching look.

Hermione was getting more and more panicked with every passing moment, and she could see that Harry and Ron were too. First alternate worlds and pirates, now "Get a fair penny"?

"Um," Harry had finally found his voice. "Are you talking about−" He glanced at Ron and Hermione before saying what they all were thinking. "−Selling us?"

Captain Jack gave a laugh that she quickly muffled when she saw their faces. "No! What kind of scum do you think I am?" she cried, sounding outraged. "Selling people indeed. I meant take your stuff and sell it. Other world goods sell for a fortune on the black market. Look, we're pirates but we traffic in inanimate objects and livestock, not humans. Got that, kid? I will not have my reputation tainted with− with THAT!"

The thought of human trafficking clearly upset her. She rubbed her temples and turned to walk away.

"Cap'n?" called one of the crew. "What should we do with them?"

"Find the boys bunks in crew quarters and the girl can sleep with Mandy and Doc Philips." The Captain slammed her door shut, and that was that.


	3. Tour of the Mazu

Barbossa handed them over to Fernando Garcia, the ship's mechanic. He was one of the men who had held down Ron.

"Sorry about before," he said while he shook Ron's hand. "Precautions, you know. We didn't know who you were."

"Sure," Ron mumbled.

"So, you kids figure out which world you from?" Garcia asked.

"No, but the Captain said that Doctor Philips had a book that could help us," Hermione said. "We didn't know of the existence of other worlds until now."

"Ah, well that's most of you interlopers."

"Interlopers?" Hermione asked.

"Inter-world travellers, interlopers for short," said Garcia. There was an awkward silence.

"So, you kids want a tour?"

"Yes, please," said Hermione.

Garcia smiled. "It's cute how polite you three are," he chuckled. "Anyway, follow me."

Garcia first showed them to where they'd be sleeping. The crew quarters were below decks. It was a long narrow room below decks with bunks beds built into both walls. There were about twenty bunks, but only six crew members, so they'd each taken a top and bottom set of bunks: One for sleeping in and one for their things. One wall was the outside hull so it curved with the curve of the ship, making the top bunk wider than the bottom.

They were introduced to James "Jamie" Hawkins, the helmsman and navigator (who had held Hermione), Edward "Eddie" Teach, the gunner (the bug-eyed man), and Bartholomew Swann, the carpenter (the other man who had held Ron).

Barbossa also slept in crew quarters. But, being first mate, he'd taken the four bunks at the end of the room and hung up a sheet across the aisle for some privacy.

"Usually, first mate gets his own quarters," Garcia told them. "But Cap'n gave it to Mandy and Doc Philips. So Barbossa makes due."

Harry and Ron picked bunks across the aisle from each other and Garcia took Hermione to meet her new roommates. The girls' cabin was on the deck level, next to the captain's cabin.

Turns out "Doc Philips" was the black woman that Hermione had mistaken for the captain. Her full name was Dr. Anne Philips, ship's surgeon. Amanda "Mandy" Frye was Garcia's assistant and apprentice. She was a tiny blond girl who claimed to be 20 but who acted like she was 15. Harry was a little shocked by her. She had beaten him so easily in the forest but she was only 5'3" tall.

"Garcia's givin' you a tour? Can I come along?" She seemed so eager that Garcia agreed. She spent the next quarter of an hour giving the three "interlopers" the history of the ship and everyone on it.

"Cap'n Jack was a sharpshooter aboard Mazu's Glory when she was called the Loyalty. But the Cap'n then was awful and the crew mutinied and left him on an island and elected Cap'n Jack as cap'n. First things she did was let anyone who wanted to leave, leave. Barbossa was part of that crew too, that's how he and Cap'n know each other so well. Barbossa don't talk much but he's real smart so when he do talk you'd best listen. Eddie was part of the old Loyalty crew too but he don't care who's Cap'n so long as he gets to be in charge of the guns. He's got a weird sorta relationship with the guns. They all got names and personalities accordin' to him. We think he's nuts but he's a damn good gunner."

Garcia cut in at this point. "By guns she means the shot and phaser cannons over there." Garcia pointed to the line of frightening looking artillery strapped in place by ropes. "Eddie's completely crazy he never misses and the guns never break, not when he's lookin' after 'em."

"I thought that was a gun," Harry pointed at the weapon hanging form Garcia's hip. The crew seemed to always be armed, even when there was no imminent danger.

"Anything that shoots can be called a gun," Garcia explained. "So pistols, rifles, blasters, cannons, and everythin' in between."

"Were you a part of the old crew as well?" Hermione asked.

"Nah, Cap'n hired me two years ago, just after the old mechanic quit. Been here ever since. Jamie and Bart joined up around the same time."

"I just joined Mazu's Glory three months ago," Mandy volunteered. "Garcia's teachin' me all he knows about engines. He knows a lot and it's takin' a while but I'm a fast learner, or so he says, so it's goin' pretty fast, or at least faster than it would and..."

While Mandy talked, Garcia showed them the rest of the lower deck. There was the galley kitchen, Doc Philips' surgery and the other crew quarters that was filled with cargo boxes.

"Why is the cargo in here?" Ron asked. Mandy and Garcia exchanged a grin.

"See for yourself." Garcia opened a door that revealed a staircase leading down into the dungeon of the ship. Hermione descended the stairs and was hit with a smell of engine grease and heated metal. The engine and all its parts took up the entire cargo hold. Hermione was amazed at the size. The only engine she'd ever seen was her parents' car engine. This engine seemed to have parts jutting out everywhere: Valves and pistons and things that Hermione had no names for. The engine was silent since the ship was careened. The only sound was their footsteps echoing in the room.

"This is our baby," Mandy said proudly. "Takeshi 46 is the best engine on the market for a ship this size."

"Why is it so big?" Harry asked.

Garcia raised an eyebrow. "Have you seen the size of the ship?" he asked with a laugh. "And we need the speed that the Takeshi has. We are pirates, after all."

A mechanical beep sounded and the Captain's voice filled the engine room. "Garcia?" her voice asked. Ron stared around, looking for the source of the disembodied voice.

"It's probably just an intercom," Hermione whispered to him. He clearly had no idea what that was, but he looked a little relieved nonetheless.

"I'm here, Cap'n," Garcia called back.

"Take off in ten minutes ok?" the Captain asked.

"Sounds good," he said. "What about the kids? They comin'?"

"Can't well leave 'em on the deserted island. They'd starve to death. Send them up to my cabin." The beep sounded again, signalling the end of the call.


	4. Back Alley Rumours

Captain Jack sat behind her desk. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat on the other side in a row of chairs. Hermione was reminded of all the times that they stood in front of McGonagall's desk, just like this, waiting for their detention sentences. Captain Jack didn't hand out detentions though. Hermione wondered if pirates in this world made people walk the plank. She shuddered. _Mazu's Glory_ was a flying ship. Walking the plank would be deadly.

"What am I going to do with you?" Captain Jack asked. It seemed to be a rhetorical question since she continued before letting anyone answer. "I've got a full crew already, not that any of you look like you've worked a day in your lives."

"We're students," Harry volunteered. "Or we were. We quit school just before we arrived here."

"Why would you have done that?" Captain Jack asked. "School is important."

"Well..." Harry looked at Ron and Hermione. "We have an important mission, that's why we quit. See there's this man in our world – well, he's not really a man, he's more of a- a thing, I guess and-"

Hermione cut off his ramblings. "Basically, when Harry was a baby he killed a man who was in the process of taking over the world. Now that man has come back to finish what he started, both with taking over the world and having revenge on Harry."

"People come back from the dead in your world?" Captain Jack asked, horrified. "Damn. Glad I live here."

"Says the sky pirate with a flying ship," Ron muttered.

The Captain laughed. "True enough, Red."

"It's Ron."

The Captain ignored him. "So you quit school and you're on the run. How long d'you figure you could keep that up? The world is only so big."

"We were trying to kill him, that's the mission," Harry said. "He split his soul into seven parts and put each of the parts in an object. We can only kill him if we destroy all the objects first. Otherwise, he'll come back. That's how he came back the first time."

"And they can be any objects, anywhere in the whole world?" the Captain sounded doubtful. "If you don't mind me saying, you three have got a snowball's chance in hell of finding your seven."

Harry sighed. "We know but we have to try. And we've already destroyed a few so we're almost there."

"But you're here now," Captain Jack pointed out. "In this world, people don't split their souls or comeback from the dead like that."

"We know. That's why we have to go back."

"Go back? No one ever goes back once they've come here. There's no way to do it."

"What?" Harry gasped. The students stood in silence for a moment. They were stranded? Forever? But what about their world? Their friends, families? Who would destroy the Horcruxes if they were stuck here?

"We can't stay here," Harry jumped up. "We need to get home. We need to find the Horcruxes and stop Voldemort."

Ron and Hermione looked at him without getting up.

"How?" Ron finally asked. "How are we supposed to get home? We don't even know how we got here."

"And the Captain just said there's no way to get back," said Hermione.

"Well," Captain Jack started. All the Hogwarts kids jumped. "There are rumours that the Valencians have been working on something. Apparently they've been working with the Malian Empire on some tech that can send people back to their own worlds."

"Well that's great!" exclaimed Harry. "We can go find it and be home by February."

"Whoa, slow down. These are just back alley rumours. I have no idea of whether this is real or if it would even work."

"But there's a chance it could."

"Yeah, sure. But there's also a chance that it would send you to the wrong world or trap you between worlds or just plain kill you!"

Harry looked at Hermione and Ron. Hermione chewed her lip. They could die. But there was nothing new in that. But if they stayed...

"We have to risk it," Hermione said. "Yes we might die, but we can't give up."

"Hermione's right," Ron said. "We have to try."

"Harry turned to the Captain. "How do we find it?"

The Captain gawked at them. "Did you three miss the part where I said this tech might not be real?" None of the Hogwarts students moved. They kept staring, expectantly. The Captain sighed. "Your best bet is to head to Marrakesh. That's where I first heard the rumours. We've gotta stop in Renata first but we can head to Marrakesh when we're done."

"How far is it?" Hermione asked.

The Captain pulled a book off the shelf and opened it to a map. The students gasped. The physical geography was the same as in their world. The map showed the north part of Africa and Europe as far as the North Sea. Hermione reached out a hand and touched the British Isles. It felt so close.

The only differences were the names and the locations of borders. Hermione noticed a few major differences right away. The British Isles and Normandy were one country, called Anglia. The country called Valencia encompassed the entire Iberian Peninsula and most of the rest of France that wasn't Anglia. All of North Africa, other than Egypt, was entirely one country, called the Empire of Mali. They were the ones working with Valencia on the "tech."

"We're here." The Captain pointed to the southern extreme of the map, on the West African coast near where Nigeria was in their world. They were just outside the border of the Empire of Mali. "Marrakesh is here." The Captain pointed again. Marrakesh was in the same place in both worlds, in Morocco. "If this tech exists, they'll know in Marrakesh. The business in Renata won't take more than a day. We'll be in Marrakesh by Tuesday."

It was Friday. Four days until Marrakesh. Hopefully they'd be able to get home.

"Thank you, Captain," Harry said. "We'll be out of your hair in Marrakesh."

Captain Jack's eyes widened. "You didn't think I'd just leave you in Marrakesh, did you? You three don't know where to look for info on something that don't exist. No, I'll take you around; make sure you meet the right people."

Hermione could see Harry's suspicious mind at work. "Why would you do that?" he asked. "Why would you help us for nothing?"

"Nothing?" the Captain laughed. "Did you forget that I'm taking your stuff to sell? Besides, it's so obvious you're interlopers. The Malians would nail you and it'd get around that you'd been on my ship and then we'd be in trouble. No way am I letting that happen to my crew. You stick close when we reach Marrakesh. We'll look after you."

The Captain dismissed them and the students went to Harry and Ron's bunk to talk.

"She's hiding something," Harry said immediately. "She's a pirate. There's no way she is helping us out of the goodness in her heart."

"Of course she's hiding something," Ron snorted. "She doesn't know us. Do you expect her to pour out her soul?"

"Ron's right," said Hermione. "She hasn't told us everything but we haven't told her everything either. She knows that but hasn't asked questions."

Harry had on his "I-don't-like-this" face.

"Come on, mate," Ron said. "The Captain has agreed to help us for now. I say we wait and see what happens. If things turn nasty we can always run."

Harry sighed. He clearly didn't like the situation. But Hermione agreed with Ron. The devil you know, and all that. They really didn't know Captain Jack or the crew but the saying still rang true. The Captain didn't seem like a bloodthirsty pirate. If she was going to kill them, she'd have done it on the deserted island. She wouldn't wait and kill them in a populated city like Renata or Marrakesh, right?


	5. Questionable Moralities

A/N: Sorry it's been so long since the last update. School started and well... it's school.

The next morning, _Mazu's Glory_ made port in Renata. Hermione, Ron and Harry were on deck, leaning over the railing to watch the ground come into view. Despite knowing that she was on an airship, Hermione couldn't get the normal water-bound ship docks out of her mind. So when the airship docks came into view, it was a shock. They looked like water docks but they were over land. Where a ship would normally sit in the water to be tied to the dock, huge hammocks were hung. Hermione could see other ships in these hammocks, the bottoms of their hulls resting on the ground and the hammock-like thing keeping them upright.

The crew descended onto the dock.

"How long we got here, Cap'n?" Bart asked.

"Till after dinner, say eight o'clock," replied the Captain.

"Only five hours?" Jamie asked.

"It's enough time for a hot shower and a stiff drink, which is all you ever want anyway," the Captain said. The rest of the crew chimed in agreement. Hermione realized with a start that the ship had no bathing facilities, just a toilet and sink. Turned out that there were facilities in town just for that purpose. If you brought your own soap, you could use the coin-operated showers.

After showers, Captain Jack pulled Harry, Ron and Hermione aside.

"Hand over your bag," she ordered. "I'm off to the pawn broker."

Hermione clutched her purse that contained all their worldly possessions. She didn't want to give it up. They didn't have much but it was all they had. Harry and Ron's faces told a similar story.

"Isn't there another way?" Harry asked. "The contents of that bag are all we have."

"It's just things," the Captain said.

"What about a deal?" Hermione asked.

The Captain crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "What kind of deal?"

"We can work for our passage, instead," Hermione said. "You know, help out, and clean the ship or..." she trailed off. She had no idea how an airship was run.

"We can do magic," Ron prompted.

"You mentioned that," the Captain said. She studied them all for a moment. "What kind of magic?"

"All kinds," Ron said. "There's a spell for just about everything."

"Navigation? Weather control?" the Captain asked. Hermione nodded.

"What about fighting?"

"There are fighting spells," Hermione said. "And defensive spells too. There are spells that can shrink things or make them bigger, transform one object into another, muffle sounds or amplify them, anything."

Captain Jack gave Hermione a crooked smile. "You make a good sell, Girlie. I agree. You go through that bag, pick out what you absolutely can't live without and give me the rest. You got ten minutes."

The Captain walked a few paces away and Harry, Ron and Hermione had a quiet celebration. Hermione was quite proud of herself. She had made a good sell. The three of them decided to keep their wands, the gifts from Dumbledore, Harry's invisibility cloak, Phineas' portrait from 12 Grimmauld Place and Hermione's spell books. Everything else they gave to Captain Jack. It could all be replaced.

The Captain went off alone, Garcia went to refuel the ship and the remaining nine of them headed for the tavern.

"Will we be allowed in?" Hermione asked.

"Why wouldn't you be?" asked Bart, perplexed.

The students exchanged a look. "We're underage," suggested Ron.

Bart laughed. "Nobody will care, trust me. This ain't one of them places."

As soon as they entered the tavern, Hermione understood. It was a dark, dingy looking place with a long bar and a dozen tables scattered around the room. The patrons of the tavern matched the environment. They seemed to blend in with the brown of the tables and walls. They clutched their glasses like lifelines and stared unseeingly ahead of them. A sad looking man played a sad tune on a guitar-like instrument. Hermione felt like she was in a Clint Eastwood movie. No one was wearing a cowboy hat, though.

Eddie and Mandy pulled a few tables together for them all to sit around.

"What does everyone want?" Jamie asked. "Pint? Half pint?" Everyone chimed in their orders. It felt to Hermione like they did this all the time.

Ron nudged her. "We have no money, how will we buy drinks?"

"Or food?" Hermione said, ever practical. Food was more important than alcohol.

Mandy nudged Hermione. "Hey, we'll stand you drinks and dinner 'till you get your first pay check."

"Pay check?" Hermione asked.

"Well sure. You're part of the crew now. Cap'n will pay you."

This news confused Hermione's logical head. The Captain had sold their things to pay for their passage, but they'd get paid? The boys didn't seem too concerned with it though. All they'd heard was that they'd get to eat. And at the moment, that was the only important thing.

The night after they left Renata, the crew sat around the table, finishing off their dinner. Food on board _Mazu's Glory _was boring but it was filling. Hermione liked that they all ate together. It was like a family. She thought of family dinners with her parents. They'd sit around their square kitchen table and talk about the day, like the crew did. But she'd never... Hermione cut that thought off. It didn't help thinking about things that she'd left behind.

Captain Jack came into the room, carrying the atlas. "All right, folks. We gotta make a detour before we hit Marrakesh."

"What kinda detour, Cap'n?" Garcia asked.

Captain Jack grinned. "The profit making kind."

A cheer went up from the crew. Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other. A delay?

Harry spoke up. "Um, as nice as it is that you've found a job to do — "

"What was that?" interrupted Jack. "Was that our non-paying, non-working passenger objecting to us takin' a job that will bring in money? Which, in turn, will put food in his belly and fuel in the ship and therefore get him back to his universe faster?"

Harry had been slowly slouching in his seat and by the time Jack was done, he was almost laying on the table.

Captain Jack sighed. "Don't worry. It's an easy job; shouldn't take more than a day. We'll be in Marrakesh by Wednesday. And as an added bonus, we'll have money to bribe people for information about your tech."

The Hogwarts students couldn't say anything. The way she had phrased it made Hermione feel guilty for even considering objecting. They _were _non-paying and non-working. They were dead weights and Hermione knew they should feel grateful that The Captain hadn't left them on that island.

"What's the job?" Barbossa asked.

"Payroll transport," answered Jack. She opened the atlas. "We can intercept it here. They've sent out three ships but only one is heavily armed."

"Decoys?" Mandy asked.

Jack nodded. "They want us to think that the money is on the tank. But Percy told me that it's gonna be on the little mail runner."

"Simple smash and grab?" Barbosa asked.

She nodded again. "Should be."

Hermione raised her hand, like she was in class. Jack gave her such a condescending look that she lowered it quickly and ploughed on. "This 'job,' you're talking about is theft, right?"

"Yes," Jack said. "We intercept the ship, remove the money and blast away before they can stop us. Or that's the plan anyway."

A resounding silence descended. Hermione studied her hands.

"We're pirates, you guys," Captain Jack said. "You knew that."

"But we didn't have a choice!" Harry protested. "You found us on a deserted island. Of course we'd choose piracy over starvation."

"Then you don't have to be involved in the heist," Jack said. "Listen up: This is what we do and if you have a problem with that, too bad. We're doing this job and if you get in the way, someone will stun you and you'll wake up tied to a chair with a mighty headache."

There wasn't a lot to say after that. The heist was going to happen, regardless of the students' level of co-operation. They cleaned up the dishes and went to bed.


	6. Smash and Grab

**Chapter 6: Smash and Grab**

The next morning dawned bright and cool. The morning of a heist had a different atmosphere than a usual morning. The crew ran instead of walked through their morning chores. Everyone had a slight spring in their step. But then, they were expecting to get paid today.

Garcia and Mandy shut themselves up in the engine room all morning, making sure that everything was working perfectly. Eddie oiled down all the guns. Jaime sat at the helm, eyes darting from the navigation instruments to the empty sky before him. It was like the whole crew was holding its breath, and the anticipation was tangible.

As noon approached, the mail runner was sighted. It was smaller than the _Mazu's Glory. _Hermione felt rather sorry for it.

Jack strode out of her cabin, looking every inch the Pirate Captain. She was dressed like Captain Hook from _Peter Pan _except her jacket was blue, not red.

She stood in the control room behind Jamie's chair. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were already in there, chatting with Jamie.

"Sound the bell, raise the flag," she ordered. Jamie pressed a green button three times. A gong sounded three times. The sound echoed across the air to the other ship. He flicked a switch and the skeleton flag ascended the mast. A moment passed and an answering four gongs sounded from the mail runner.

Jack smirked. "They want to outrun us?" she laughed. "Fat chance. Catch them."

Jamie smirked too. He hit the intercom. "Garcia? Two more notches."

The ship lurched as it accelerated. Within minutes, they'd caught up to the mail runner. Red beams of light shot from the mail runner's sides. Most came nowhere near the _Mazu's Glory _but one grazed the starboard hull.

"My ship!" Jack cried. She hit the intercom. "Eddie, take out their engines."

As the Hogwarts students pressed against the windows, three beams of red light shot from the _Mazu's Glory._ All three hit the stern of the mail runner, where a gentle blue light had been glowing. The light cut out and smoke began to rise from the engine.

Jack hit the intercom again. "Grapples," she said. Hooks shot out of the front guns and either wrapped around the mail runner's deck railings or just pierced her hull. Hermione heard a cheer over the intercom.

The crew, except for Doc Philips, surged onto the deck and across to the other ship. The three students crowded at the windows of the control room. Hermione might not approve, but she was still curious to watch a pirate attack.

It was strangely anti-climactic. The crew of the mail runner were caught off guard and were easily overpowered. There were a few punches thrown, but the mail runner's crew quickly stopped fighting when the guns were waved around.

Jack walked over to the captain of the mail runner. "Good afternoon," she said smiling. "We heard that you are transporting Graymall's payroll. We'll be taking it off your hands."

"We don't have the payroll. You must have been told wrong," the other captain stammered.

Jack sighed. "Now, captain. My source was very confident. So either you're lying or he was and I don't like being lied to. But he's not here, and you are." Jack tapped the barrel of her pistol against his chest. "Now, what are you going to do about that?"

The other captain shook his head in jerky nervous movements. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't?" Jack sauntered over to where his crew were lined against the wall. Her crew stood with pistols trained on them. Some of the mail runner crew looked terrified, others angry, others just nervous. She stopped in front of one boy. He can't have been older than fifteen. Huge blue eyes stared at her from under a mess of blond hair. He probably joined the mail runner crew thinking he'd have an adventure.

"Well, I've noticed that nothing sparks neural activity quite like a deadline," Jack said. "But I'll be nice. Who's your least favourite?"

"What?"

"Who don't you like among your crew?" Jack said slowly. "That one person who won't listen to orders or who just gets on your nerves, who is it?"

The other captain was silent. He knew where this was going.

"See, I'm going to count to three," Jack went on. "If you don't remember where the money is, I'll throw your least favourite overboard. And it's a long way down." Jack and the captain stared at each other.

"One."

The mail runner captain blinked.

"Two."

He bit his lip.

"Three."

His Adam's apple bobbed but he was silent.

"Barbosa," Jack nodded at the blue eyed boy. Barbosa was in front of him in two steps. He grabbed the boy by the front of the shirt and the belt and lifted him up. Barbosa turned to the railing of the ship.

"No! No!" the other captain cried. Jack raised a hand. Barbosa stopped.

The mail runner captain looked green. "The payroll is in the safe, below decks. But I don't have the combination. We were supposed to dock at Helos and someone from the Graymall factory would come out and take the money."

"That's ok." Jack turned to her ship and looked right at Harry Ron and Hermione pressed against the control room window. She gestured for them to come over.

"What?" Hermione gasped. "She wants to go there?"

"Looks like," Jamie said. "You'd better go. Cap'n don't like to be kept waiting, especially during a raid."

The students across the gangplank to the mail runner.

"Time to start earning your keep." Jack said to them. She turned back to the other captain. "Take us to the safe. And tricks and pretty boy there goes overboard."

The other captain led Jack and the students below decks to the storage room. There was a safe box with a heavy turning handle on it.

"Can you open it?" Jack asked.

Hermione glanced at the safe uncertainly. "Um, I don't think–"

"Yes or no, Girlie. We're on a deadline and we got no time for your morality." Jack stared at her.

Hermione pulled out her wand. "_Alohomora._" The lock spun and the door swung open easily revealing a dozen small brown bags.

"Grab 'em and let's go," Jack ordered. Hermione didn't want to. This was theft. But there was something in the way that Jack said it that made it impossible not to obey. Or maybe it was that Jack's pistol was still out.

The group of five emerged onto the deck. The crew of the _Mazu's Glory _crossed back to their own ship and blasted away.

"Won't they chase us?" Harry asked.

Garcia shook his head. "Naw, Eddie took out their engine. By the time they fix it, we'll be long gone." Garcia went back to counting the gold. The whole crew except for the Captain was gathered around, watching him count. Even Ron was staring at the gold like a kid at Christmas.

Hermione wandered away. She didn't want to watch them count their ill gotten gains, especially since she'd helped them get it. She headed back to her shared cabin but stopped in front of Jack's door. It was slightly open. Hermione peered inside.

Jack was on her knees, facing away from Hermione. As Hermione looked, she could see that Jack knelt before a small statue of a woman. A candle burned on either side of it. It was a shrine of some kind.

Hermione leaned closer to the door. She could hear Jack whispering.

"I did what I had to do. I wouldn't have thrown him over. I just needed him to think I would," Jack drew a ragged breath. "I wouldn't have thrown him. I did what I had to do."


	7. Marrakesh

**I know it's been eons since the last chapter. I'm very sorry. What happened is I went to open the story one day and it told me that the file had become corrupted. I was so mad that I couldn't think about rewriting it for two weeks. As it is, I'm liking the rewrite more than what I had originally, so silver lining I guess.**

**Anyway, here's a ridiculously long chapter to make up for the wait (maybe). I couldn't find anywhere to cut it so I just didn't.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Marrakesh**

Marrakesh as the loudest, most vibrant city that Hermione had ever seen. As the _Mazu's Glory_ descended and docked, Hermione leaned over the railing and absorbed the city. The air smelled like exotic spices, fish, and engine oil.

Once the ship was settled in its hammock, the crew bounded down onto the dock. Hermione, Harry, and Ron followed more slowly. By the time they caught up, Jack was already handing out coins.

"We'll be here at least two nights," she said. "Keep your radios on you at all times in case something comes up. And, don't have too much fun. Any bail money is coming out of your wages."

The crew laughed and dispersed.

"I wonder what sailors in this world do for fun?" Harry asked to no one in particular. "Are they like sailors on leave from our world?"

"Garcia and Jamie, maybe. But the others?" Hermione shook her head. "They're the wrong personality."

"I don't know," Ron said. "I could see Mandy getting a bit wild after a few drinks. He smiled at Mandy's retreating back, entirely missing Hermione's scowl.

Jack came over to them and handed them each a small bag of coins.

"These big gold ones are pesos," she said, holding up a coin about the size and weight of a galleon. "Everything else is a shilling." She showed them a handful of silver coins of various sizes. They were all smaller than the peso. "Fifty shillings to a peso. How many shillings each coin is worth is stamped onto the coin."

Hermione dumped her coins into her hand and counted them. She had fifteen pesos and twenty-seven shillings.

Jack continued. "Three pesos buys you a night in a hotel. A drink will cost you between six and eight shillings, and if anyone tries to charge you more, you tell 'em to go to hell."

Hermione nodded. It occurred to her that this was her first paycheque. She just hadn't expected it to be for piracy services rendered.

"Now off you go," Jack said.

"Where?" Harry asked.

Jack nodded to where her crew had disappeared. "Well, they're going to book rooms for the night. Unless you want to sleep on the ship again ‒"

"No," Ron said it so fast that Jack laughed.

"Come on," Jack led them off the dock. "I'll take you to our usual inn. We could all use a shower and a good meal."

The next forty-eight hours were a whirlwind. Anne gave her a tour of the town. Anne had lived in Marrakesh in her youth. Hermione stared in awe at the architecture of government buildings and old houses. She sampled octopus and pastries stuffed with goat-cheese and spices in the bazaar. That night, the whole crew ate at a little cafe. The food was delicious and spicy. Hermione's eyes watered as she went back for seconds and thirds. Men played bongo drums and strummed at instruments like mandolins. Hermione danced the night away, giddy on good food, drink, and joy. For the first time, she felt like this was an adventure.

Then she soaked for an hour in a bathtub and came out feeling like a lavender-scented raisin.

While in the bath, she started reading a book from Jack's library. It was a thick book about inter-world theory. She wanted to know how they'd got here. The research seemed contradictory, mostly because no one had any idea. Still, it was an interesting read and knowing more made Hermione feel better. She felt more in control of her crazy life.

On the third day, they had to leave. The crew went off in various directions to get ready to leave. Hermione figured they were spending the last of their money. She heard Bart and Jamie talking about one last trip to somewhere called "The Silk Slipper." Mandy and Garcia went off to buy parts and fuel for the engine. They would beat everyone to the ship since they had to tune up their "baby" before takeoff.

Jack took Hermione, Ron, and Harry to a bar.

"I have a friend here," she told them. "He has big ears if you know what I mean."

Hermione did. She had learned that information was worth more than the coins in her purse.

Jack took them to a bar that looked like it had seen better days. The front needed a scrub and a coat of paint. Hermione couldn't imagine anyone coming here to eat.

Just inside the doorway of the bar stood two very large, menacing-looking men. One sat behind a booth that looked like a coat check and the other guarded the door. Jack approached the booth. She took out her gun and knife and laid them in the bin that the man offered her. He handed her a scrap of paper with a number in exchange.

"A weapon check?" Ron asked.

"Yeah," answered Jack. "They had one too many bar fights that ended in the morgue, so they made a new rule." Hermione gulped. What sort of person was Jack taking them to meet who hung out in a place like this?

The man at the door gave each of them a cursory pat down. He didn't notice their wands, or maybe he didn't know what they were.

Once inside the bar, Jack led the way to a secluded corner table.

The waiter came over. "What can I get you?"

Jack answered without looking at the menu. "Delphi shooters, all around."

The waiter's face became suddenly serious. "Just a moment."

After he left, Harry leaned across the table. "What's a delphi shooter?"

"A code. Now, when the next person comes over, you let me do the talking, ok? You three sit tight until it's time."

As if on cue, a very round man emerged from the kitchen of the bar. He was balding and wore an apron covered in grease. He smelled like cooking oil.

"Jack!" he cried as he approached the table.

"Marco!" Jack rose from the table to embrace him. "Hey! A pint of Faithful and a gin and ginger over here!" She called to the bartender. Jack pulled back his chair for him and he lowered himself into it with a groan.

"Oh, Jack. You remember my order," he said warmly.

"Of course I remember. It hasn't been that long."

"Eighteen months," he scolded but his eyes laughed.

"I know, I'm sorry," Jack said. "I've been real busy. And it was too hot here for a while."

Marco nodded. "It was. Those were hard time for everyone."

Hermione got the impression that they weren't talking about the weather.

Their drinks arrived and Jack and Marco spent ten minutes tossing around names of people and places that meant nothing to Hermione. A lot of people seemed to have gone 'underground' or missing. A few were dead and Jack and Marco drank toasts to them.

The conversation lulled for a moment. Marco took a sip of his drink.

"So Jack," he said sitting forward and lowering his voice. "What can I do for you?"

"Who says there's anything?"

Marco grinned. "Come on, Jack. You didn't come all this way just to see an old man like me."

Jack sat back. "I'm wondering if you've heard anything about new tech."

"There's always new tech," Marco said. He looked at the students for the first time. Hermione felt him sizing her up. "What're you interested in?" he spoke to Jack but he looked at them.

"Inter-world travel."

A tense silence fell over the table.

"I never figured you for people smuggling, Jack." Marco said.

"I'm not. This is a transport job. Nothing more."

Marco studied the students for a moment longer. Hermione forced herself to meet his gaze. It felt important that she look him in the eye.

Marco turned back to Jack. "Word is that the Malian's are developing it and the Valencians are financing it. The money's in Valencia but the brains are in Mali, you know? Though it's all very hush-hush. Officially, it's just trade."

"So it's real?" Jack asked. "It's not just idle rumours."

"It's real all right, or it will be. Don't know how close they are to finishing it, or if they'll finish it. But yeah, it's real."

Jack looked at the students and smiled. "This is good news."

"So, what world are you from?" Marco asked them directly. Hermione wasn't sure whether they should answer but Jack nodded.

Harry spoke. "We think C or D."

"Long way from home then," Marco said. "Good luck to you."

Jack and Marco turned in unison as three men entered the bar. They'd had empty gun holsters hanging from their belts. They weren't wearing uniforms but they were clearly part of some sort of organization. They fanned out in the room, creating a large triangle that encompassed most of the room.

"Well," Marco stood up. "I'd say that's my cue to get back to work." Jack stood and they shook hands.

"You know," he said, almost as an afterthought. "Mrs. Harcourt out in El Hadiz might know more about this. I'll give her a call."

Jack's face split into a huge smile. "You're the best, Marco."

"Yeah, well I know you're good for it."

"Always."

Marco glanced at the students. "Need help with them?"

"No, I can take care of it."

"You always do, Jack."

Marco pushed open the kitchen door and was swallowed by a cloud of steam.

Hermione glanced again at the three men. They looked menacing. All three of them were watching their little group but trying to look like they weren't.

"Captain," Hermione asked quietly. "What's going on?"

"Bounty hunters. Nothing to worry about."

"What?" Ron gasped. "Why are they hear?"

"I'm worth 12,000 pesos to the Anglos." Jack chuckled at their shocked faces. "Anglia and I don't get along."

"So what's the plan?" Harry asked. "What do we do?"

"You three are going to, very calmly and quietly, get up and walk out the door. Do you remember how to get back to the ship?"

Hermione wasn't sure but Ron nodded. "Yeah, but what about you? We have our wands still. We can help."

"Why would I need your help?"

"There are three of them and one of you," Ron said.

Jack smiled. "Yeah, doesn't really seem fair on them, does it?"

Hermione stared, wide-eyed, at Jack. She didn't look worried, in fact, she looked quite relaxed.

"Go," Jack said. "I'll be with you in ten minutes."

Hermione, Ron, and Harry got up. Hermione felt like she was walking in slow motion. The bounty hunters tracked the students' progress with their eyes but didn't move. Jack was right, they wanted her.

As they left the bar, Ron led them down the street. They'd got out. They were all right.

They were halfway down the block when Hermione started giggling. She was fleeing from bounty hunters who were after her friend, the pirate captain with the flying ship.

"Hermione?" Ron asked. She laughed and laughed, her voice getting shriller. The enormity of their situation crashed around her. She had dropped out of school. She was hunting parts of a man's soul. She was miles from home in another universe with a slim chance of ever seeing her world again.

"Hermione, snap out of it!" Harry slapped her in the back.

She leaned over and put her hands on her knees. She gasped for breath.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I was getting a little hysterical."

"We noticed," Ron said. Hermione happened to meet his eyes. He was looking at her with such concern. It almost made her afraid.

Ron looked away quickly. "We'd better get back to the ship."

They walked in silence for the rest of the way to the ship. It was the silence that struck them when they walked up the gangplank. Hermione glanced around. Something wasn't right. The gangplank was down so Mandy and Garcia had obviously made it back. The ship was silent. The engine below decks wasn't making any noise like it should have been if they'd been down there tending to it.

Hermione looked at Harry and Ron. They had noticed the silence too.

"Where is everyone?" Ron asked quietly. Hermione looked around the deck that had become so familiar to her. She noticed that the door to her, Mandy, and Doc Philips' room was open a crack. She had definitely left it closed. Hermione silently pointed it out.

They all withdrew their wands and crept up to the door. Hermione stood next to the door, her hand on it. At Harry's nod, she pushed it.

A man. A man with a gun.

"_Stupefy!_"

"_Expelliarmus!_"

Both spells missed the man who jumped out of the room. He had a gun. Hermione tried to disarm him. He dodged and fired.

Her hand was on fire. Hermione screamed and dropped her wand. Blood poured down her fingers. She was jerked up. Something choked her throat. Something jabbed her cheek. She froze.

The man had his arm around her neck. His gun was pressed again her face. It glinted in the sunlight. Hermione couldn't tear her eyes from it.

"Please," Ron's voice made her look up. He was three metres away. His right shoulder was bleeding and his lip was split. Someone had hit him. The man? Ron didn't have his wand.

"Let her go," Ron said. His voice shook.

"Let her go?" the man repeated. His voice was scratchy. "Why would I do that?"

"Please." Ron said again.

Where was Harry? Hermione glanced around the deck. She cried out.

"Shut up!" The man moved the gun moved to her temple.

Harry was face down on the deck. He wasn't moving. He wasn't bleeding either from what Hermione could see.

"Your Miss Silver is worth 12,000 pesos in Anglia," the man with the gun said. "I wonder how much three of her pirate crew would be worth?"

"Captain Silver," Ron corrected. The man snorted.

"We're not pirates. We're interlopers," Hermione used the word for the first time.

"Interlopers?" the man laughed. "Unregistered I'm guessing? Even better. I'm guaranteed a price for you right here. No need to haul out to Anglia."

Damn it.

"Look," Ron was speaking again. "What's your name? I'm Ron. That's Hermione and Harry."

How could he be so calm? Hermione forced herself to breathe.

The man was silent for a moment. "Bernard," he grunted.

"Harris, all right," Ron said. "Let's talk. How much would we be worth?"

"You trying to barter with me?" Bernard asked.

"Yes."

Bernard scoffed. "You're green kid. You don't know how it works."

"We have things from our world," Ron said. "You could sell them instead of us."

"I could sell them after I sell you."

Ron was silent. Hermione forced herself to breathe. It had been a good idea.

"What have you done with the others?" Ron asked.

Bernard jerked his head at Harry. "They're taking a nap. Like him, but below decks. That engine makes so much noise they didn't hear a thing."

Hermione stared at Ron. She could see his mind whirling. He looked around, up, down, left, right. Hermione glanced around too. Was there anything that she could use? She couldn't think. The gun was too cold, her bleeding hand hurt too much. She just wanted to cry.

Ron raised his hands. "We're your prisoners. Let go of Hermione."

"So you can get your magic sticks and put me out of business? Don't think so. She's leverage."

"Let her go." Ron took a step forward.

"Stop!" Bernard turned the gun on Ron. Ron stopped.

"All right," said Ron. "It's all right. We can work this out."

"The hell we can."

"Who's worth more, us three or Captain Jack?"

"She is," Bernard said. "She's worth all three of you and then some."

"So she's the one that you really want," Ron said. "She's coming back soon. She'll be alone and she just fought three bounty hunters at a bar. She'll be weak."

What was Ron doing? Selling out Jack? How could he? Hermione tried to gesture no with her eyes.

Bernard laughed. "Yeah, I know," he said. "They're my partners. 12,000 for her and 3,000 apiece for the three of you split four ways. Not bad for a day's work."

Hermione's heart fell.

"Oh! And then there's the two below decks. Their price is negotiable" Bernard sounded so happy. Hermione hated him.

"Don't do this," Ron sounded like Hermione felt, desperate. He took a step sideways.

"Stop," Bernard pressed the gun harder against her temple. Her turned her with a jerk so that she was a shield between him and Ron. Hermione held her breath. She closed her eyes.

Bang!

The arm around her neck went slack then slipped off. The gun's pressure disappeared. Her face felt hot and wet. Hermione's eyes flew open.

Bernard lay on the deck. His eyes were open. There was a bloody, gushing hole where his right eye was. Blood pooled around his head.

Footsteps. Hermione looked up. Jack was running up the gangplank. She had been in a fight: she had dried blood under her nose and on her hands. The pistol in her hand smoked. The rest of the crew were right behind her.

"Jamie, let's go! We're hot!" she cried. "Barbossa, need you in the engine room. Doc, look after them."

Anne came up to Hermione.

"Let's have a look at that hand," she said gently. "Bart, can you bring Harry and then go check on Mandy and Garcia? Come along, Ron." She led Hermione away.

"I- What?" Hermione's head was spinning. "What happened?"

"It was Jack," Anne said. "Jack shot him. You're safe now. It's ok."

"But, but the bounty hunters-"

"Were no match for Jack," Anne smiled.

They got to the infirmary and Hermione let Anne stitch up her hand. She was in a daze. She was alive. She had another man's blood on her face. She had bruises on her neck from his arm. She was alive.

The room lurched as the ship took off. The engine was purring in its familiar way. It was almost normal.

Hermione didn't move off of her bench. People came in and out of the infirmary. Harry woke up. Hermione vaguely heard Anne tell him that he'd be fine. Mandy and Garcia came in, they were fine too, though Garcia took an ice pack. Harry left with them.

Jack came in. She spoke to Anne and Ron. She left.

After a while, Ron came over and sat next to her. He was only wearing an undershirt and Anne's stitches were visible in his shoulder. His lip was still split and a bruise was blooming on his left cheek.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said. They sat in silence. Ron's good shoulder was closest to her. Hermione lay her head on it. She needed human contact. She needed to feel that she was actually still here.

"I'm all right, I guess," she said finally.

"I'm glad you're all right." Ron took her hand. She let him.

"How did you do it?" Hermione asked. "You were so calm."

"I wasn't. I was just faking it."

"You fooled me."

"I was panicking," said Ron. "I thought I was going to pass out, or start crying."

"Me too."

"Then I saw Jack."

"Jack?" Hermione lifted her head off his shoulder and looked at him.

"Yeah, she was behind you," he said. "I guess that's how I did it, stayed calm, I mean. She gestured at me to keep him talking. Then she told me to make him turn to the left."

"You took a step sideways."

"Yeah. Jack couldn't get a clear shot. She was afraid that the bullet would go right through him and hit you. I had to make him turn."

Hermione leaned up and kissed his cheek. Ron's eyes were as big as dinner plates.

"Thank you," she said. Hermione lay her head back on his shoulder. She felt pressure on her head. He rested his head on top of hers.

"You're welcome."


End file.
